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Ranbaxy Q2 profit halves on competition, costs

Posted AtReuters

BOMBAY (Reuters) - India's top drug maker,
Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd., said on Thursday its quarterly
net profit fell 49 percent on competition in the key
U.S. generic drugs market and higher research & development
(R&D) costs.

Ranbaxy had warned this year would be tough as it incurs
higher research costs to boost its drug pipeline and
also prepares to launch a copy of Pfizer Inc.'s Cholesterol-lowering
blockbuster drug Lipitor.

A U.S. court is yet to decide whether Ranbaxy's challenge
of Pfizer's patent is valid.

The company said its April-June net profit fell to 1.01
billion rupees from 1.97 billion a year earlier. Sales
in the second quarter rose 7 percent to 13.48 billion
rupees.

A Reuters poll of 10 analysts had forecast a profit
of 1.36 billion rupees and sales of 13.05 billion for
Ranbaxy, which has the biggest presence in the U.S.
drug market among Indian drug makers.

After the recently announced acquisition of Ivax Corp
by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ranbaxy will have
the second-largest pipeline of filings for generic drugs
with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Indian
company's chief executive Brian Tempest said.

Ranbaxy aims to sell generic copies of patented drugs
with a U.S. market size of more than $30 billion.

But the pricing pressures in the United States this
year is a big dampener on the company's performance.

"There has been a falling away of prices, away from
where we had expected it at the beginning of the year,
through quarter one and also into quarter two," Tempest
told reporters on a conference call after the results.

"In the light of the continuing pricing pressure that
we are seeing, we are going to see the year-end generating
less earnings per share than 2004," he said.

As billions of dollars worth of drugs go off patent
in the United States, more generic drug makers are entering
the market, causing prices to fall.

Rival Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd., another early entrant
into the U.S. market, reported on Tuesday a doubling
of April-June profit on higher domestic and European
sales and also said the U.S. market was tough.

More Indian companies such as Glenmark Pharmaceuticals
Ltd., Lupin Ltd., and Cadila Healthcare Ltd. have stepped
up drug launches in the United States in the past few
months.

INVESTING IN RESEARCH

Ranbaxy said its R&D costs doubled to $26 million during
the quarter. Tempest said it would continue to spend
more on R&D to develop generics, and said Ranbaxy was
also spending more on intellectual property rights litigation
with patent holders.

Ranbaxy said its U.S. performance was affected by quinapril,
a generic version of Pfizer's Accupril blood pressure
drug, staying off the market. A U.S. court had, in March,
asked Ranbaxy and its partner Teva to stop selling the
drug. Ranbaxy said an appeal hearing was scheduled for
next week.

Ranbaxy said its sales in all other regions had improved
over the previous year. European sales rose 27 percent
from a year earlier. Indian sales also improved.

Domestic market sales have rebounded as traders restocked
their supplies after the previous quarter's hesitancy
to pick up drugs ahead of the introduction of a new
lower value-added tax from April, which replaced higher
sales tax.

Tempest said Ranbaxy was more focussed than ever on
acqusitions, but declined to comment on anything specific.
It has said in the past that it would look for opportunities
in Germany and the United States. It acquired the generic
portfolio of Spain's EFARMES last quarter.

Ranbaxy's shares rose 5 percent in the April-June quarter,
while the benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange Healthcare
index gained 9 percent. Indian stock exchanges were
closed on Thursday due to severe flooding in Bombay.

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